Machine for unraveling knitted goods and winding the yarn



M. F. nomscuOu. MACHINE FOR UNRAVELING KNITTED GOODS AND WINDING THEYARN. APPLICATION FILED SEPT. 15, I919. 1,399,657. Patented Dec. 6,1921.

5 SHEETS-SHEET I. m v

M. F. ROBIISCHON.

MAGHINE FOR UNRAVELING KNITTEDGOODS AND WINDING THE YARN. APPLICATIONFILED'SEPT- 15. I919.

1,399,651 Patented Dec. 6, 1921.

5 SHEETS-SHEET 2- M. F. RUBISCHUN. MACHINE FOR UNRAVELING KNITTED GOODSAND WINDING THE YARN- I APPLICATION FILED SEPT. 15, [91 9.

1,399,657. Patented Dec. 6, 1921.

5 SHEETS-6 M. F. ROBISCHON. MACHINE FOR UNRAVELING KNITTED GOODS ANDWINDING THE YARN. APPLICATION FILED SEPT. I5. I919.

1,399,657. Patented Dec. 6,1921.

5 SHEETS-SHEET 4- WSQWM M. F. RUBISCHON. MACHINE FOR UNRAVELING KNHTEDGOODS AND WINDING THE YARN.

APPLICATION FILED SEPT. 15- I919.

Patented Dec. 6, 1921..

5 SHEETSSHEET 5- Looss STITCH on Mani: I]

VARIMG NORMAL LENVING TIGHT STITCH DR POINT L535 3mm 60% C "L B 1 '&

w, W&W

v UNITED starts irronant r. nonisorron, or cries, new roan.

MACHINE on nivnnvntrno :rrivir'riin ooons Lawn wrnnrno ran ream.

Application filed September To all whomit may comm-n.

Be it known that 1, MICHAEL l Boer sci-ton, a citizen oi": the UnitedEitates, and a resident of Utica, in the county of @neida and State ofNew York, haveinvcnted certainnew and uselulimprovements in Machines torUnravelingl initted Goods and finding the Yarn; and do hereby declarethat the following is aclull, clear, andexact description thereof, whichwill enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make anduse the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, and tothe reference-numerals marked thereon, which form part of thisspecification.

hl'y present invention relates to machines :tor unraveling knitted goodsand winding the yarn so obtained.

In the manufacture or knitted goods there i p fabric has increased duepartly to the use of 1 with a great variety of knitted goods.

less skilled and less careful operatorsand at the same time the value oithe silk, wool and cotton yarn has greatly increased. Heretolore tar asI am aware no practical machine has been made for unraveling suchspoiled knitted goods and saving the yarn. this great dii'llculty hasbeen to provide a machine that would. practically and automaticallyadjust its different unraveling devices to the ditlerent amount oi?thread coming from each teed oi the knitted fabric.

it is the purpose of my invention to provide a practical and efficientmachine for unraveling knitted goods and in a complete term for windingup the separate threads of the yarn so obtained; and turtherto have themachine of such construction that its several unraveling or drawingelements and also the winding spools will automatically and separatelybe regulated to correspond to the permanent or temporary variations inthe amount of yarn. coming from the differcombine sutlicient delicacy ofoperation and adjustment as to enable the machine to accomplish thepurpose in hand and to he used {specification of Letters Tatent. Pwtgnilgfl D g t 1921,,

15, 1919. Serial No. 323311.-

run. at a, speed suflicient to reclaim a large I amount of yarn.

It is another object of my invention to provide a machine of thecharacter described which especially adapted toruse'. upon tubularknitted goods produced from a pluralitv of feeds and to have suchmachine especially compact and convenient and accessible'ior that lineof work.

Further purposes of .my invention are to provide means and combinationsof parts and elements especially well adapted to produce the generalends sought.

Figure l is a view partly in side elevation and partly in verticalsection of all but the lower part of a machine embodying my invention. i

Fig. 2 is a vertical central sectional view of the fabric holding rackbut for the sake of clearness omitting all parts not shown on saidsection and including certain parts shown in 1 showing adjacent parts ofthe machine in side elevation.

Fig. 8 is a top or plan view of the machine but for the sake ofclearness showing only the winding mechanism.

Fig. 4; is a top view of the fabric holding reel on line 4:?"4: of Fig.1.

Fig. is a top view of the drawing mechanism as seen on line 5 5 of Fig.1.

Fig. 6 is a top view of a single unit of the drawing mechanism on anenlarged scale.

Fig. 7 is an outer side elevation of a single unit of the drawingmechanism on a similar enlarged scale and showing in dotted lines thedifferent positions of a thread according to whether it is coming fasteror slower than normal speed relative to the rest of the machine.

lt will he understood that the drawings and specification herein showand describe a machine especially adapted to unraveling the yarn fromtubular knitted goods which have been formed with a plurality of feedsand that said iorm oi machine is the preferred and most convenient anduseful embodiment of my invention. lit will be understood, however, thatas indicated by some of the claims hereinafter set forth my invention isnot limited absolutely to use upon tubular knitted goods.

Referring tothe drawings in a more pair ticular description it will beseen that the machine comprises a rack 15 adapted to have placed thereona quantity of tubular knittedgoods which to be unraveled, the

unwinding or drawing mechanism including a plurality of unwinding ordrawing units cepta'cles at the proper speed for winding up theindividual threa'dpas'sing to each spool, and means for distributing theseveral threads along the length of the several spools together withproper framework for supporting the different parts of the machine I andoperating the parts of the machine by power. r

The frame comprises a rigidly-supported post 18 and the followingseparate brackets extending therefrom, viz: a bracket 19 near the floororthe lower end of the post for supporting the lower-end of the rack 15;a bracket 20 above the level of the upper end of the rack to whichbracket there is hingedly. connected an extension 21 at the outer end ofwhich is mounted a depending stub,

shaft 22 normally engaging and supporting theupper end of the rackshaft23; immediately above the bracket 20 another bracket 24 forsupporting'the unwinding or drawing mechanism; thereabove anotheibracket 25 forsupporting the yarn-receiving spools 17 and means forrotating the same and still a further above on said post another bracket26 for supporting the means for distributing th different threads ofyarn along the length of the spools or other receptacles 17. Part waydown on the post 18 and rigidly se- 1 cured thereto is a frame 27 inwhich 'is f with a'bevel' gear 30 upon the inner end of a short shaft 31journaled in an upright portion of the shaft frame 27. On the outer endofsaid shaft 31 is mounted the drive pulley 32.7

The rack 15-is shown as of the collapsible and extensible type in orderto enable the machine to be readily adapted to operate upon tubularknitted goods of various sizes. The rack is composed of rack shaft 23,upper and lower heads 33 and 34 respectively mounted upon the shaft 23,slats 35, slat clips 36 at the opposite ends of said slats,

links 37 pivotally connecting the slat clips 36 to ears 38 projectingoutward from the rack heads 33 and 34 and top and bottom rings 39 and 40respectively. The slats 35 are of suilicient number to hold the tubularknitted goods approximately in a circle. By reason of the upper head 33being adjustable lengthwise of the rack shaft 23 as by means of setscrew 41 and through the pivotal connection of the links 37 with theslats 35 and the respective heads it will be seen that the upper head 33may be readily raised or lowered upon its shaft and so the diameter ofthe rack readily adjusted to accommodate it to knitted goods of varyingsizes. When the rack has been adjusted to the desired size the top andbottom rings 39 and 40 are brought down and up respectively against therecess provided upon the slat clips and operate to keep the slats frommoving or sagging while the upper ring 39 affords a continuous surfacepast which the threads of yarn being unraveled from the fabric upon therack may pass without catching upon the ends of the slats or the slatclips.

The lower end of the rack shaft 23 rests and rotates in a shallow socket42 provided in the bracket 19. The rack is normally held in its uprightposition by means of its upper end projecting into a shallow socket 43in the lower end of the stub shaft 22 which depends from the bracketextension 21. A pulley 44 upon the short shaft 22 is connected by a belt45 to a pulley 46 upon the drive-shaft 28. The lower end of the shaft 22is provided with downwardly extending projections 47 which cooperate asa jaw clutch with upwardly extending PlOjGvtions 48 upon a collar 49secured to the ra ck shaft 23 just below its upper end. As the extension21 is hinged to the bracket 20 so that said extension 21 may have itsouter end moved upward it will be seen that the upper end of the rackshaft may be readily disconnected from its short drive shaft 22 and thatthe rack may then be bodily tipped as far as necessary to one side asshown in dotted lines in Fig. 2 for the purpose of loading a length ofthe tubular knitted fabric upon the rack. The rack may then be returnedto its normal upright position and upon bringing down the hingedextension piece 21 the rack is again secured in position and operativelyconnected to the drive shaft of the machine. A knob 50 upon theright-hand side of thebracket 20 extends up into a corresponding socketin the lower side of the bracket extension 21 and serves as a stop toprevent the extension dropping beyond normal position when the operatoris loading the rack and also serves as an anchor against sidewisemovement of the extension 21 when the same is lowered to hold the rackin normal position.

trally located flange 53 while from the hub portion 52 extend spoke-likearms supporting the rim 55 of the platform from which rim ext-end upwardears 56. The ears 56 and the central upstanding flange 53 affordbearings for. the shafts 57 of the several drawing units 16 and also forthe shaft 5e tl'irough which the power is brought on to said platformfor driving the different drawing units. In the inner sideof thebrackets 26'and25 there is supported a jaclr shaft 59 driven by chain 60by means of sprocket wheel ti on said jack shaft and sprocket wheel (1'2on the main shaft 28. Be low the bracket 25 this jack shaft 59 is provided with a bevel gear 63 meshing with a bevel gear or on the left-handend of the shaft 58 of the drawing mechanism plat form. Within the boxformed by the an nular flange 53 the shaft 58 and the several shafts 57are provided with small bevel gears 65 and 66 respectively all of whichare in mesh with a horizontally located bevel gear 6? mounted in thebottom. of the box formed by said flange. The circular plate 68 servesas a cover for the box formed by the flange 53 to lreep dust or lintfrom the gears contained in the box. a

The outer end of each drawing unit shaft 5'? projects beyond the ear 56and has secured theretothe thread-engaging member of the drawings; unitwhich is a roller 69 of tapering or truncated cone form with its largerend outward as more particularly shown in Figs. 1., 5 and 6. The innerend of the roller is preferably provided with a radially extending;flange 70 to prevent the thread. from running off at that end of theroller.

The machine here illustrated is con-- structed to operate upon theordinary tubular knitted fabric which has been formed by a knitting};machine having, eight feeds. Accordingly my machine is equipped witheight drawing units one for each feed of the fabric to be unraveled. Thefabric holding rack 15 when the machine is in operation will be moved ina clockwise direction. as viewed from above or its inner edge will movefrom right to left as indicated in i 7. This direction of movement andthe extent of movement given to said raclr when the machine is inoperation is such as to lreep the point A designating; the normal pointwhere each thread of yarn leaves or is unraveled from the fabricsubstantially be low the drawing unit 16 which is to provide the draw orpull for unraveling said thread from the fabric.

Each drawing unit includes a thread con-- trolled arm 71 pivotallymounted as upon pivot 72 provided upon a hanger 73 depending from theplatform 51. The pivot i2 errtends substantially radially relative toits portion of the circle of the platform 51 so that the upper short endT l and the lower and longer end 75 of said arm 71 swing roughly in theline of the periphery of thcircle of the platform above and the circleof the knitted goods 76 upon the reel: 15 below said arm.

Preferably a hinge-joint 77 is provided in the longer portion "[5 of thearm ll be low the pivot 72 which allows the portion of said arm belowsaid rule-joint to swim in and out relative to the circle of tee fabricbelow the arm in order to enable the machine to adapt itself readily todifferent sizes of tubular lrnitted fabric. will be noted, however, thatthe axis of the hinge joint 7'? is at right angles to the pivot 72 sothat the hinge-joint '77 does not interfere with the normal swingingaction of the thread engaging arm 71 upon its pivot 72. Tn other wordsforce applied to the lower end of said arm 71 to saving it sidewise asviewed in his. 7 is not interfered wi h at all by the hinge-joint 77.The extreme lower end of thelower portion T5 of the arm 'r'l is turnedout forming; a short linger 78 provided with. a central perforation oreye 79 throughwhich the thread. 80 to be oper ated upon by this drawingunit is led up ward from the fabric 76 below.

The upper end l of the thread-controlled arm 71 is pivotally connectedas by pin 81 to a horizontally arranged link 82 the left end of which asseen in i 7 is pivotally connected as the inwardly extending arm 84- ofa bell-crank This bell-crank is pivoted upon a vertically arranged pin86 depending from the outer end of a bracket 87 projecting; from theouter edge of the platform 51 and preferably as indicated in Fig. '1? alittle below the level of said platform. The other arm 88 of said bellcranlr projects to the right as shown in Fig. 7 and in the generaldirection of its drawing roller 69 and. swings horizontally so that theyarn guide 89 projecting; from or provided in theend of the bell-crankarm 88 may be swung along a line roughly corresponding); to the nearedge of the drawing); roller 69 as viewed from above and as moreparticularly shown in Fig. 6.

T he thread 80 after being; led through the eye 79 in the lower end ofthe thread-controlled arm is led upward and through the eye provided inthe said. yarn-guide (3%) which is relatively close to and. a littlebelow the drawing roller 69. From the said yarn guide 89 the thread 80is led up and over lltl ; rollers 69 of the 't 1e same speed.

and substantially half way around the surface of the drawing roller 69and then downwardly and to the left as viewed in Fig. 7 through apig-tail or hook 9G provided upon the outer end of a finger 91 whiclprojects outward from the adjacent tion of the platform 51. From thishook 90 the thread 80' is conducted'to the winding m chanism to behereinafter described.

h s the madiine so far d ribed is a fully operative machine and ma beused with any proper form of mechanism for winding the different threadsas they are unraveled from the goods, 1' will now describe the operation of the machine ar shown.

The drawing rollers 59 are shown as rotating clockwise as viewed fromwithout the machine or seenparticularly in F "Z m lhe drawing rollers 69will be composed some material or preferably will have thei surfacecovered with some material as clotso that assuming the thread 80 to beled hal way about said roller as indicated in th drawings and.especially when subject there beyond to a proper or yielding tensionsaid rollers will engage the thread with sulncient grip or friction todraw or unravel the thread from the fabric therebelow.

lt will be understood that in a machine organized as indicated theseveral drawing machine will be rotated at well known that the greatdifficulty of unraveiing knitted goods hai ing a plurality feces comesfromthe fact that the amount of yarn consumed by the different foods inthe formation of fabric will "rezotly and of course the amountof yarnunraveled from said different feeds will vary in a similar way. Thisvariance may be caused from a variety of reasons such difference in theconstruction or ad ustment of the different feeds of the knittingmachine or different HIlCl or character or-quahty of yarn used at thedifferent feeds of the knitting machine. The variance mentioned may alsobe permanent or temporary, that one thread of yarn being unraveled maybe in much greater amount or much less amount than the average oftheother threads all tl e way through that portion of knitted fabric or thevariance may be only temporar due to temporary or accidental causes in aknitting machine. The mechanism herein described. will automaticallyadjust itself to unwind the varying amounts of yarn present in thedifferent feeds of the particular piece of fabric being unraveled'kssuming that the amount of yarn to come from any given feed of theknitted fabric isothe average amount,'tl1e thread 80 as itcomes up fromthejknitted fabric 76 will leave the fabric at point A indicating thenormal leaving or unraveling point of an average thread and will passsubstantially '(ln'the other hand his straight upward through the eye'79 at the lower end of the thread-cmitrolled arm 71 as shown in Fig.and through the yarn-guide 89 being at about central position of itrangeof movement the said thread will be led on to the roller (32) aboutmidovay of the length of the said cone shaped drawing roller 69 or atpoint )8.

Assuming now that the amount of thread or yarn coming from be food beinghandled by the drawing unit 16 in question is less than he average perrevolution o the machine will be obvious that the point where threadleaves the fabric '76 will lend to move ahead. upon the rotating body offabric or toward the right as seen in Fig. This movement is caused bythe fact that roller tends to still draw the erage amount of thread andthe rack hold up; the knitted goods is being rotated at :1 rate to lzccpthe point of the thread leaving: the fabric below the drawing unit forthe ads having the average amount of yarda e '5 the piece of lrnittcdgoods being haudledn The thread heii unraveled will excl: the extra arreel. :AK'OllllllOtltllO :1 egg or unraveling m ncc upon the fabsomcwhattoward the "Zion indicated i'ead in Fig.

to ward 7. The result of this will upper end 7st of the said arm s shownin said Fig. 7. Thii i mmunicatcd through linl: if to the inwim lyextending arm i. of boll-- crank which. will oln'iously ause the otherarm 88 of the bell-crank to move iu ward and swing tl c yarn-gun c 89 im'ard or toward the smaller portion of the voucshaped drawing roller (39as plainly seen in (S. The effect of this will be to guide the thread 80toward the smaller diamctercd portion of the drawing roller or toward a.position such as indicated in Fig. 6 by B Inasmuch as the drawing roller(35) is rotating at a given rate of speed it will be obv'ious that thethread is guided toward the smaller end of the coueshaped roller theroller will draw proportionately lees tlu'eml due to the smallerperiphery of the portion of the roller thus engaging the thread. in thismanner the drawing action of this unit of the drawing mechanism willautomatically reduce the amount of thread drawn by it to the amount ofthread at that time available from its feed of the knitted goods. ll thefeed being operated upon by that draw ing unit is permanently tight,that is with less thread than the average of the feeds in the threadguidedmore or lessas need be toward the smaller end of the roller. Ifthe reduced amount of thread from the given feed 1s only temporary thedev1ce,'1t w1ll beseen, will automatmally reduce the-drawing as long assuch reduced drawing is necessary andithen the parts tend to return.toward an lntermedlate positlon or the nor inal position'so that thethread will come back to normal position upon the roller as at A}.

If onthe other being operated upon by a given drawing mechanism haseither temporarily or permanently a loose stitch or greater yardage thanthe average of feeds from the piece of knit goods in the machine thepoint where the thread 80 leaves the edge of the knit goods 76 will tendto run behind upon the circle or parts to the left as seen in Fig. 7 sothat the leaving point will come to be in the position indicatedby theletter C and the thread will. pass upward in a slanting positionasindicated by the dotted lines em tending up through G". This fallingbehind or passing to the letter. the unraveling point i is caused bythedrawing mechanism having theretofore been adaptedto a normal amountof yardage of thread and also to the fact that I the rack is rotated ata speed adapted only to the average amount of yardage of the differentfeeds of the knit oods being handled. As the thread thus moves tothe left it will soon carry with it to a greater or less extent thelower extremity 178 of the thread-controlled arm 71. Obviously thiswill. cause the upper end 74 of that arm to move to the right as viewedin Fig. .7 thereby carrying the link 82 also to the right and therebycausing the arm 84 of bell-crank 85 to move toward the roller 69 and theotherarm of said bel1- crank carrying yarn-guide 89 to pass totherightas the parts are'seen in Fig. 6 or in other words more or lesstoward the larger end. ofthe cone-shaped roller 69 or to a position suchas indicated at G As the larger part ofthe cone of coursehas aproportionately larger periphery the roller will at once begin to drawagreater amountof yarn and will continue so to do as long as the extrayardage is present in the feed being operated upon by that drawing unit.As soon as thatfeed ceases to have greater. yardage than the averagetheunraveling point of its thread will return to normal position I andthere upon in an obvious manner the yarn guide 89 will be returned to anintermediate or normal position such as A a v lit will now be seen thatI have produced a machine wherein the separate drawing units are welladapted to readily, accurately and automatically adapt themselves to thevarying amounts of yarn coming from the different; feeds of the piece ofknitted goods be hand the particular feed ing operated upon by themachine. It will be noted that the differentdrawing units willautomatically adjust themselves tothe average position required by theamount of thread in the different feeds if the feeds vary permanentlyand that at the same time each of the drawing devices will automatically adjust itself to any temporary or unusual variance in its thread.Particularly it will be noted that the machine is so constituted thateach drawing device tends to keep its thread drawn up from the edge ofthe knitted fabric in a fairly direct line and to keepsaid thread fromrunning too far he. hind or ahead. In this way the unraveling pointseither A, B or C are at all times closely enough under its own drawingunit as to prevent the thread being drawn by that unit from running backor ahead so. far as to over-takeor conflict with either adjacent threadbeing drawn by the drawing units to the right or left of the one inquestion. In other words the machine automatically keeps the unravelingpoints of diiferent threads distinct and thus prevents the thread frombecoming knotted or tangled. v

It will. be obvious that a machine may be constructed having more thanthe eight drawing units as shown in the drawings but the machine shownis large enough for all practical purposes. In case the knit goods to beunraveled were formed with less than eight feeds the work can be readilydone upon the machine shown as the four or sit; threads from the fabricwill be led up to that number of drawing units and the other two or fourdrawing units preferably spaced apart will run idle. 5V here a factoryneeds to handle only four or two-feed goods a machine can readily beconstructed along the lines herein suggested but having only the desirednumber of drawing units.

When the machine is to be adjusted to tubular knitted goods of adiii'erent size the upper rack head is loosened and then The bracket 25supports a platform 92 .in which are revolubly mounted upstandingspindles 93 which are each provided with a drive pullev94t andthereabove an upwardly facing shoulder 95 upon whichf rests the lowerend of the spindle or bobbin 17 mounted upon the upstanding shank of thespindle. The spindles are driven by having an adjacent pair of themconnected by a single belt to a centrally located pulley 96 providedwith a suilicient number of V grooves to receive the belts of differentY of the bracket of spindles. This central pulley 96 is suitably mountedupon the platform 92 and'in turn is driven as bybelt 97 from a pulley 98upon the shaft 59' The draw or winding action of the thread receivingspool 12' is yielding and adjusts itself to wind up the amount of threadcoming to that spool. This yielding drive is obtained through, thespools not being positively fastened to the spindles but resting looselyupon the shank of the spindle and resting at their lower ends upon theupwardly facing shoulders 95 of each spindle. In other words there isonly a light friction drive derived simply from the Weight and frictionof the lower end of the spool upon said spindle shoulder 95. If agiventhread is coming slow rom its feed and its drawing device the spoolreceiving said thread is retarded by thethread to a similar extentthrough the bottom of the spool slipping upon the shoulder 95. A furtherelement in the yielding drive is that the spindles are belted veryloosely in their pairs and to the central drive pulley 9G.

The bracket 26 supports. the mechanism for distributing vertically thedifferent threads of yarn along theupstanding spools 17. .This mechanismincludes a depending shaft 99 revolubly mounted in the outer end 26 andcarrying at its lower end a cupshaped cam member 100. double andoppositely disposed cam surfaces 101 are formed upon the upwardlyextendmg flange 102 of said cup member 100. esting upon. these cams 101is the bridge p ece 103 which carries at its outer extremities anannular platform or ring 10 1 while at the center of the'said bridgethere is proyided a hub portion 105 revolubly and slidmgly mounted uponthe shaft 99. The platform 104 is kept from rotating with shaft I 99 andis steadied in position by means of the fingers 112 "vertical rods 106secured to the platform 104 as by set screws 10? while the lower end ofsaid rods extend into and freely slide in apertures 108 provided in thespool-supporting platform 92. ,The'shaft 99 pro vided above th bracket26with a sprocket wheel-109 connected by a chain 110 to sprocket Wheel 111upon the main drive shaft 28. Promoting from the outer edge of theannularplatform 104 there ar'e'pro- Vided fingers 112 correspondin innumber and location to the drawing units 16. From depend hooks or "loops113 are passed the threads the hooks of each draw From each hook 113 thethread through [which ing unit.

'80 passes inwardly'to its spool 17 which from mechanism alreadydescribed winds up the thread of yarn as fast as it. is un raveled byits drawing unit. Rotation of thelcup-shaped member upon the onpositecams of which rides the bridge 108 in pairs The obvious manner causesthe platform 101 to be slowly lowered from the position shown in Fig. 1and thereafter raised again to same position. During such dowmvard andupward movement of the platform 101 it will be seen that the threadhooks 113 carried thereby have distributed the thread lengthwise of thevertically arranged spools 17'.

il -hat I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. In a machine for unraveling knitted goods having a plurality offeeds, the combination of a thread-drawing unit for each feed of theknitted goods, each drawing unit comprising a movable thr11(l-C1lg'21gii1g member having at different parts thereof dillcrentdrawing speeds. a thread guide movablv mounted to direct the thread todillercntlyspeeded parts of the thread-engaging memher, a movable armengaged by the thread as it comes from the knitted goods and.

adapted to be moved by its thread in one direction when said threadbecomes tight and-to be moved by the thread in the other direction whenthe thread becomes loosc, and means operatively connecting said threadguire and said arm whereby the guide is moved to the lowcr-specdcd partof the thread-engaging member when the thread is tight and to thehigher-speedcd part when the thread is loose and means for moving thethread-engaging members of the various drawing units at a given relativespeed, a rack for holding the fabric to be unraveled and means forobtaining relative movement between said fabric rack and the rest of themachine whereby the unraveling points on the fabric remain in operativeposition relative to their respective drawing units.

2. In a machine for unraveling knitted goods having a plurality offeeds. the com bination of a thread-drawing unit for each feed of theknitted goods each drawing unit comprising a movable thread-engagingmemher having at different parts thereof dilfcrent drawing speeds athread guide movably mounted to direct the thread to differentlyspeededparts of the thread-engaging memher a movable arm engaged by the threadas it comes from the knitted goods and adapted to be moved by its threadin one direction when said thread becomes tight and to be moved by thethread in the other direction when the thread becomes loose, and meansoperatively connecting said thread guide and said arm whereby the guideis moved to the lower-speedcd part of the thread-engaging member whenthe thread is tight and to the higher-speeded part when the thread isloose and means for moving thethread-engaging members of the variousdrawing units at a given relative speed, a rack for holding the fabricto be unraveled and means for permitting said fabric-holdneee inn; "rackto more relative to the drawing units whereby the unraveling points:tabric remain in operat f position relative to their respective drring; units.

3. lin a machine 1OIUll1'2tV@llIlg l- -goods hating apluralit rnbinationoi a threadi fairing; unit .ior each. feed of the knitted good eewhdrawing unit comprising; a movable thread-em rein-- her having," atdifferent partetheiem th ent drawing speeds, a thread guide moi ablymounted to direct the thread to di'fterentl re speeded p oiithe thradengagingr member, a movable arm enga d by the thread it comes trornthe knitted goods and dapted to be moved by thre d in one direction.whensaid aread becmncs tight and to be moved by the titted I and niea'eperatiively connectinesaid thread guide and said arm whereby the guide.iiemoved to the Lower-encoded part of: the thread engaging member whenthe tltnear htand to the higher-encoded part when the thread in lomoving the thread-engag g"no; members of the variousdrawing unitsnt agiven relative speed, a rack for holding; the fabric" to be unraveledandmeans tor movingthe fttbii0- holding rack relati'n; to the drawingunit-s whereby the unraveling points on the fab ric rema n in operativeposition relativeto their SPQClZlW-B ame unite.

4f.-li:i1=a machine for unravelin knitted a having a plurality (rtfeednthe comthe knitted goods, each drawin unit movable thread en men 1 atdilterent parts t ditl'rnfent drawing; speeds, tl'ir guide mm'abiymonntedto direct the thread to d ilierently-speeded n arts 0 t "thethread-enmber able-r and as from in one directionwheej said threadbecomes tight and to be moved by the thread in the other direction whenthe thread becomes loose and means onerativel connecting: said hiea o are and said whereby the moved to the thro thread a is tire positionrelative to their resbectire drawn or units and yarn-Win dine; mechanismon the tread in the other rhrectlon"when the thread becomes icon so andmeans for no. oi. a threaddrawing; unit for each a feed or an engaged bythe lrnitted ...l adapted to he moved by thread i in lorrensneeded partof] oh and the l or; a separate thread Winding}; meme in one directionwhen said thread becomes tight and to he moved by the thread in e otherdirection when the thread becomes loose andmeans operatively connectingsaid thread guide and said arm whereby the m de is mcvfod to the lowerspeeded part of thethread-engaging member when the thread is tieghQ i tothe higher-encoded part when thethread is loose and means thetlneacbengapgrn members for 7 moving ot the Various drawing; units at ae iven rela tive speed as racist for holding the fabric to be unraveled,means for obtaining relative movement between saidfabric rack and therest of themachine whereby the unraveling; points on the fabricremain inoperative position relative to their respective units and yarn-Windingmechanism comprising; a separate thread-Winding member for each threadand a yielding drivh means Whereby each winding; unit antonn ticallyaccommodates itselt to the amount of thread to beWonnd. r

In a machine for unraveling knitted goods having; a plurality of feeds,the com binetion ot a thread-drawingg unit tor each.

the lmitted goods, each drawi comprising a movable threadengrag poring;roller a thread guide movably mounted to direct the thread to differentpoints along the length or said roller, a movable arm engaged by thethread as it comes from the knitted goods and adapted to be moved by itsthread in one direction when said thread becomes tight and to be movedby the thread intheother direction "whentl e thread becomes loose, andmeans opera and so 1 arm whereby the orde 1s moved toward the smallerend of the roller when the'thread is tight and toward the larger end ofthe roller when the thread is loose and means for moving the rollers oi?the various drawing; units at given relative speed a reel: for holdingthe fabric to be unraveled andineans for obtaining relative incrementbetween said fabric rack and the rest of the machine whereby theunraveling; points 1 the fabric remain in operative position relative totheir respective drawing units. i Y

ely connecting said thread guide comprising a movable thread-engagingtaoerinr" roller. a thread uide movabl l mounted to direct the thread todifferent points along the length of said roller, a 'movable' armengaged by the thread-as it comes from. the knitted goods and adapted tobe moved by its thread in one direction when said thread becomes tightand to be moved by the thread in the other directlon when the threadbecomes loose and means operatively connecting said thread guide andsaid arm whereby the guide is moved tovard the smaller end 'of theroller when the thread is tight and toward the larger end of the rollerwhen the thread is loose and nieansformoving the rollers of the variousdrawing units at a given relative speed, a rack forholding the fabric'tobe unraveled and means for permitting said fabric-holding rack .to moverelative to the drawing units whereby the unraveling ooints on thefabric remain in operative position'relative to their respective drawingunits. 8. In a: machine for unraveling knitted goods having apluralityof, feeds, the combination of a thread-drawing unit for each feed of'theknltted goods, each drawing unit comprising a' movable thread-engagingtapering roller, a thread guide movablv mounted to direct the thread todifferent points along the length of said roller, a movable arm engagedby the thread as it comes from the knitted goods and adapted to be movedby its thread in one direction when said thread becomes tight and to bemoved by the thread in the other direction when the thread becomesloose, and means operatively connecting said thread guide and said armwhereby the guide is moved toward the smallerend of the roller when thethread is tight and toward the larger end of the roller when the threadis loose and means for moving the rollers of the various drawing unitsat a given relative speed, a rack for holding the fabric to be unraveledand means for moving the fabric-holding rack relative to the drawingunits whereby the unraveling points on the fabric remain in operativeposition relative to their respective drawing units.

9. In a machine for unraveling knitted goods having a plurality offeeds, the combination of a thread-drawing unit for each feed of theknitted goods, each drawing unit comprising a movable thread-engagingtapering roller, a thread guide movably mounted to direct the thread todifi'erent points along the length of said roller, a movable arm engagedby the thread as it comes from the knitted goods and adapted to be armwhereby the guide is moved toward the smaller end of the roller when thethread. is tight and toward the larger end of the roller when the threadis loose and means for moving the rollers of the various drawing unitsat a given relative speed, a rack for holdin the fabric to be unraveledmeans b 7 for obtaining relative movement between and fabric rack andthe rest of the machine whereby the unraveling points on the fabricremain in operative position relative to their respective drawing units,and yarn-winding mechanism comprising a separate threadwinding memberfor each thread adapted to automatically adapt itself to the amount ofthread to be wound.

10. In a machine for unraveling knitted goods having a plurality offeeds, the combination of a thread-drawing unit for each feed of theknitted goods, each drawing unit comprising a movable thread-engagingtapering roller, a thread guide movably mounted to direct the thread todifferent points along the length of said roller, a movable arm engagedby the thread as it comes from the knitted goods and adapted to be movedby its thread in one direction when said thread becomes tight and to bemoved by the thread in the other direction when the thread becomesloose, and means operatively connecting said thread guide and said armwhereby the guide is moved toward the smaller end of the roller when thethread is tight and toward the larger end .of the roller when the threadis loose and means for moving the rollers of the various drawing unitsat a given relative speed, a rack for holding the fabric to beunraveled, means for obtaining relative movement between said fabricrack and the rest of the machine whereby the unraveling points on thefabric remain in operative position relative to their respective drawingunits, and yarn-winding mechanism comprising a separate thread-windingmember for each thread and a yielding driving means whereby each windingunit automatically accommodates itself to the amount of thread to bewound.

11. In a machine for unraveling knitted goods having a plurality offeeds, the combination of a thread-drawing unit for each feed of theknitted goods, each drawing unit comprising a movable thread-engagingmember having at different parts thereof different drawing speeds, athread guide movably mounted to direct the thread to dilferently-speededparts of the thread-engaging member, a movable arm engaged by the threadas it comes from the knitted goods and adapted to be moved by its threadin one direction when said thread becomes tight and to be moved by thethread in the. other direction when the thread becomes loose, and meansoperatively connecting said thread guide and said arm whereby the guideis moved to the lower speeded part of the thread-engaging member whenthe thread is tight and to the higher-speeded part when the thread isloose, means for moving the thread-engaging members of the variousdrawing units at a given relative speed and means for movably supportingthe fabric to be unraveled whereby the unraveling points on the fabricremain in operative position relative to their respective drawing units.

12. In a machine for unraveling knitted goods having a plurality offeeds, the combination of a thread-drawing unit for each feed of theknitted goods, each drawing unit comprising a movable thread-engagingtapering roller, a thread guide movably mounted to direct the thread todifferent points along the length of said roller, a movable arm engagedby the thread as it comes from the knitted goods and adapted to be movedby its thread in one direction when said thread becomes tight and to bemoved by the thread in the other direction when the thread becomesloose, means operatively connecting said thread guide and said armwhereby the guide is moved toward thei smaller end of the roller whenthe thread is tight and toward the larger end of the roller when thethread is loose and means for moving the rollers of the various drawingunits at a given relative speed, and means for movably supporting thefabric to be unraveled whereby the unraveling points on the fabricremain in operative position relative to their respective drawing units.

In witness whereof I have afiixed my signature, this 12th day of August,1919.

MICHAEL F. ROBISGHON.

